Fork Over Those Smaller Plates

A rather surprising set of results from a rather strange field study underlines the importance of fine-tuning our assumptions about consumers. There is always more to learn.
     Researchers at University of Utah-Salt Lake City watched what people ate in a popular Italian restaurant. They were keeping their eyes on how much the diner consumed and also, of all things, the size of the fork the diner had been given with which to eat it. Some diners had been provided large forks and others, small forks.
     What’s your guess as to which group ate more? Before making your final guess, consider that a spaghetti-bundle worth of research has shown how when people are given a larger quantity of food, they tend to eat more. For instance, researchers at Cornell University and University of Central Florida found that study participants given a 8.4 oz. tub of fresh popcorn ate about 45% more than those given a 4.2 oz. tub. The effect is quite compelling: When the popcorn given to another set of study participants was stale, not fresh, those eating from the larger buckets still ate 34% more than the small-bucket brigade.
     The Cornell/Central Florida researchers attribute this phenomenon not to echoes from childhood of “You should always clean your plate,” but rather to the tendency of larger servings to subconsciously suggest to the brain that it is expected we’ll eat more.
     The lesson for fixed-price buffet restaurants is to monitor the size of the plates. But what about the fork? Does a larger fork, which results in getting more food into the mouth with each trip, cause people to eat less or to eat more?
     The answer is that the larger fork caused the diners to eat less. The Utah researchers explain the finding this way: Using a larger fork, you take more with each bite, so you perceive that you’re making more progress toward satisfying your hunger. Therefore, you stop sooner. In another Cornell project called the “Bottomless Bowl” study, people who ate from soup bowls that—unbeknownst to the diners—automatically refilled themselves ate 73% more soup than those eating from standard bowls.
     The more general lesson, then, is to give customers signs that they’re making progress in satisfying their needs. If you’re serving on smaller plates, provide bigger forks. If you’re providing a service which takes a long time to complete, point out benchmarks along the way.

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Give Customers a Clear Sense of Progress